Chris Oynes, Regional Director for the Gulf of Mexico Region of the Minerals Management Service of the Department of the Interior, received the highest award in the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Distinguished Service Award from Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt at a special ceremony in Washington on Monday.  A resident of Mandeville, Oynes heads the most active region of the agency, overseeing oil and gas activities in the entire Gulf of Mexico and heading a staff of over 500 professionals.  Oynes is being acknowledged for years of exceptional performance, administration, and leadership in the Federal Government’s mineral extraction program.

MMS is the Federal agency that manages the Nation's natural gas, oil, and other mineral resources on the OCS, and collects, accounts for and disburses about $4 billion yearly in revenues from offshore Federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and Indian lands.